Hands-On Animal Care Is Key for Successful Vet School Application!

This year, thousands of students across Canada are carefully filling out applications to professional schools, including schools of veterinary medicine. According to Robert Ryan, Associate Dean of Enrolment Planning at St. George’s University in Grenada, West Indies, the most important prerequisite for admission to St. George’s School of Veterinary Medicine is “real experience with animal care.”

Mr. Ryan says that opportunity for exposure to hands-on animal care is available across Canada, and he expects St. George’s applicants to demonstrate it. “Our successful applicant has worked in animal clinics,
shelters, emergency hospitals, and private practices…even if it has only been as a volunteer. In all of our vet school candidates, we look for traits and qualities beyond their academic achievements. They need strong letters of recommendation and passion for animal care. And that passion must have been shown in the real world, with hands-on care.” 

“It isn’t only checking a box on a form,” according to Mr. Ryan. “Many young people who think about veterinary medicine dream only about treating cute little kittens and puppies And it’s so much more than that. I know if the student has actually been exposed to a true veterinary environment, he or she will know that vet medicine also includes large animal care. I know that he or she will likely have witnessed issues of animal euthanasia, and the difficult end-of-life decisions that practicing veterinarians must deal with for the rest of their professional careers, no matter how traumatic. The real-world experience helps to weed out the true future veterinarian from the dilettante.”

Continuing early hands-on experience is integral to the veterinary program at St. George’s. The University maintains an animal farm on campus, and all students work in it and in the field from the outset of their studies. They are exposed to large and small animal practice in the real world.

Academic Programs

St. George’s University School of Veterinary Medicine offers the preveterinary medical program and the veterinary medical program, which includes the four-year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. For clinical studies, the program is affiliated with the University of Prince Edward Island and the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, two of the seven veterinary schools in the United Kingdom, 23 of the 28 veterinary schools in the United States, and schools in Ireland and Australia. The School offers the stand-alone degree DVM, as well as dual degrees such as the DVM/MPH, the DVM/MSc, and the DVM/MBA.

Veterinary Student Organizations

The St. George’s orientation to real-world experience for veterinary students is reflected in the various clubs they belong to, including the Exotic and Wildlife Society, Large Animal Society, Student Veterinary Emergency, and Critical Care Society. The University sponsors over 50 such student organizations, from cultural, religious, social, academic, and professional to community service.
Information on the University is available at www.sgu.edu, and through YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter at StGeorgesU. St. George’s Canadian students are featured on www.sgu.edu/canada.